Micron CEO eyes up move into mobile chip market

Micron CEO Steve Appleton wants to push into the mobile chip market as doom hovers around the DRAM industry.

Appleton plans to extend his product range to cut back Micron’s dependence on the unsteady computer memory market, and thinks that the mobile memory industry is where it is at.

He said that the market was “rational” and “consistently profitable”, two phrases you wouldn’t see bandied around about DRAM manufacturing.

In fact in the most recent financial results, Micron posted its first ever quarter where DRAM did not constitute the most sales.

Appleton reckons it will be another “two or three years” before the industry steadies itself according to BusinessWeek.

He added that the number of viable suppliers in the industry has been dwindling for a long time, with a peak of 44 firms in the industry now at four. No-one likely to be crazy enough to plough billions into setting up in the industry any time soon as it does not seem that this figure is set to rise.

Appleton highlighted MIcron’s ongoing battle with money-bags Samsung. He claims that the uphill struggle as the only non-Asian firm battling against the might of Samsung gives him the competition that he says thrives on.

There was little good news in the DRAM market for Micron today though as it gains share over Hynix and Elpida were overshadowed by Samsung’s dominance in the declining market.

Micron saw its share grow from 10.8 to 11.8 percent sequentially, but Samsung extended its lead from 41.4 perecnt to 44.8 percent.

However the overall market shrank by19.4 percent sequentially to $6.57 billion in the third quarter, according to DigiTimes.